Michael Anton Dila

Social

Biography

Michael has a passion for starting things. Whether it's companies or communities, he has spent much of the last 15 years breaking new ground. He is a leader in design thinking and innovation, with a passion for making both... more rigorous and more accessible.

Michael helped establish the Strategic Innovation Lab (slab.ocad.ca) a center for research and development in design, innovation and strategic foresight at the Ontario College or Art & Design. He is also chief catalyst of the Unfinished Business initiative (unfinished.torchiswicked.com) to apply open source ideas and methods to the practices of business management and design. And he invented and co-developed (with Matthew Milan) Innovation Parkour, a scalable framework for training people in large organizations to become more innovative. He has led several successful start-ups and is a regular speaker at deign and business events.

A philosopher by training, Michael's Ph.D. research concerned ideas and norms of objectivity. He has written and lectured on topics in the history and philosophy of science, legal and political theory, psychology, and criminal law.

Michael has co-founded: Moso (2010), Foundery (an innovation lab in Toronto, 2010), Torch Innovation (2010), Overlap (peer-to-peer innovation organization 2006), Torch Partnership (Strategic and Innovation Consulting 2006), Aegis (1999)

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Industry Expertise (3)

Information Services

Financial Services

Internet

Areas of Expertise (2)

Design Thinking

Democratizing Innovation

Education (3)

University of Toronto: M.A., Pholisophy 1991

University of Toronto: Ph.D. (ABD), Philosophy 1996

Earlham College: B.A., Philosphy 1990

Links (3)

• Unfinished Business
• Other
• Blog

Event Appearances (7)

Title

TED India  Mysore, India

2009-11-04

Title

Ignite Toronto 2  Toronto, ON

2009-11-29

Title

Ignite Toronto 3  Toronto, ON

2010-03-03

Title

Invitational Forum on Leadership & Management  Halifax, Nova Scotia

2010-06-04

Title

NetChange, MaRS  Toronto, ON

Title

CoThinkTank 2011  Berlin, Germany

2011-09-07

Title

NetChange, MaRS  Toronto, ON

Sample Talks (1)

First, Let's Kill All the Designers

A case against the rhetoric of design thinking and arguing for the need to create and share tools rather than jargon.

Style

Educational

Entertaining

Strategic

Tactical

Lecture Style

Interactive

Formal

Relaxed

Availability

• Keynote
• Panelist
• Workshop Leader
• Author Appearance

Fees

5000 to 10000 ^*Will consider certain engagements for no fee